City Research Online

Abstract

Aim: To explore the differences between the oral and written description of a picture in individuals with chronic aphasia (IWA) and healthy controls. Descriptions were controlled for productivity, efficiency, grammatical organization, substitution behavior and discourse organization.

Method: 50 IWA and 50 healthy controls matched for age, gender and education, provided an oral and written description of a black and white situational drawing from the Dutch version of the Comprehensive Aphasia Test. Between- and within-group analyses were carried out and the reliability of the test instrument was assessed.

Results: The language samples of the healthy controls were more elaborate, more efficient, syntactically richer, more coherent and consisted of fewer spoken and written language errors than the samples of the IWA. Within-group comparisons showed that connected writing is more sensitive than connected speech to capture aphasic symptoms.

Conclusion: The analysis of both modalities (speech and writing) at discourse level allows to simultaneously assess microlinguistic and macrolinguistic skills and their potential interrelations in a given IWA. Connected writing appears to be more sensitive in discriminating IWA from healthy controls than connected speech. This method for analyzing language samples should, however, be used in conjunction with other assessment tools.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Vandenborre, D., Visch-Brink, E., van Dun, K., Verhoeven, J. & Marien, P. (2017). Oral and written picture description in individuals with aphasia. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, which is published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12348. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Publisher Keywords:	connected speech, connected writing, aphasia, picture scene, linguistic markers, reliability
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Language & Communication Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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